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Monday, April 26, 2010

So I recently wrote that we've been eating more and more vegetarian meals lately, and here I go adding meat to a meatless pasta dish. Contradictory much? I saw roasted garlic chicken sausage at Trader Joe's the day I made this, and I thought it would make a nice addition. This is seriously one of the easiest dinners I've made in awhile, and its super flavorful to boot. The asparagus and chicken sausage roast while the pasta cooks, and then its all tossed with a goat cheese simple sauce.

Joey wasn't the biggest fan of this dish, but I really loved it. I'm pretty much obsessed with asparagus right now (not that you can tell, right?), and I'm always obsessed with goat cheese, so this was destined to be a winner in my book. Easy, relatively healthy, and delicious. What more can you ask for in a weeknight dinner?

Preheat oven to 450. Toss asparagus with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and place them on a baking sheet. Slice chicken sausage into 1-inch pieces, and place on the baking sheet alongside the asparagus. Roast until tender, tossing the asparagus and turning the sausage, about 10-15 minutes. Slice asparagus into 2-inch pieces.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 Tablespoon of salt, and cook the pasta until al dente. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the cooking water, and drain the pasta.

Whisk together the goat cheese, butter, Parmesan, and 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Season with salt and pepper, and whisk until smooth.

Return the pasta to the pot, and toss with the goat-cheese mixture, asparagus, and chicken sausage. Add pasta water a few tablespoons at at time, until a thin sauce coats the pasta.

I made this last night for my parents and boyfriend. It didn't take much time to make and was a very filling meal. I used asiago cheese and spinach chicken sausage and it was super delicious! I wasn't too fond of the cheese sauce that went with the pasta, but everyone else thought it was great. I might use a store bought alfredo sauce of something next time.

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